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Greetings from Bennie and Bratcat

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 7/4/2008 7:42 PM (GMT 0)
Hi all. Just wanted to let you know that Bratcat is out of surgery and doing well. Her surgery was yesterday. Her sugeon said it went very well, exactly how he wanted it to go. Watching her go off to surgery was traumatic. She ended up getting an epidural so I wasn't able to go in with her. The OR nurse was great. She called us in the surgical waiting room about 45 minutes after we left Bratcat to let us know she was wonderful through the whole prep, and that the surgeon was about to start. 4-1/4 hours later, she was done. We were able to see her for a bit in recovery and then she was moved up to her room.

She is on the pediatric floor. Right now it is virtually empty so it is very quiet. Yesterday evening she was in alot of pain. She has lots of different tubes coming out of different places but they removed one today and will continue to remove them daily. She slept a little last night. Today she is sitting in a chair. She's going to walk a little later. Every doctor, intern, fellow, resident, etc has been it to check on her.

All in all, Bratcat is terrific. I know she is my daughter but she amazes me. She is alot tougher than I would be in her situation. And she still feels like this is the right decision.

Thanks again for your good wishes. I will check in as soon as possible.

Bennie

Posted 7/4/2008 9:22 PM (GMT 0)
Bennie, she's a brave little lady. Her determination will help her recovery, I'm sure. Thanks so much for letting us know how things are going!
Posted 7/4/2008 10:21 PM (GMT 0)
So happy to hear everything went so well. Hope she has a speedy recovery. good luck to her.
Posted 7/4/2008 10:22 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks for the update! Please tell her we are thinking of her!!!!
Posted 7/4/2008 10:56 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks for updating us. Great that Bratcat has such resolve! Wishing her all the best ... / Old Hat (nearly 30 yrs with left-sided UC ... [etc.])
Posted 7/4/2008 11:44 PM (GMT 0)

I am glad to hear that all went well!  I will keep all of you in my thoughts!

Beth

Posted 7/5/2008 12:20 AM (GMT 0)
That's great news...........Hope she recovers quickly. She will be able to enjoy life so much more now. She sounds like such a brave girl. Good for her.....
Posted 7/5/2008 12:33 AM (GMT 0)
I am so happy she is doing well and getting good care. She is so brave. I hope she has an easy recovery.
Posted 7/5/2008 1:09 AM (GMT 0)
She's one amazing little lady....and so is her Mom. Thanks Bennie for letting us know how she's doing, and let her know we are thinking about her! Awesome news...smile.

Posted 7/5/2008 1:10 AM (GMT 0)

Bratcat has an amazing attitude; she will do fine no matter what's thrown her way.

Sue

Posted 7/5/2008 5:05 AM (GMT 0)
Bratcat has amazing strength and you're an awesome supportive mom!

It's wonderful the surgery went smoothly...I hope she recovers quickly. been a long road!

Thank you for letting us know Bennie.
quincyxx
Posted 7/5/2008 2:05 PM (GMT 0)
I know you don't know me, but I have been reading about your family's ordeal, and you all have been in my thoughts and prayers. I am so glad to hear that all went well, and I hope she continues to recover quickly and can enjoy some of her summer. You all are an amazing family and I only wish good things for you.
Posted 7/5/2008 3:08 PM (GMT 0)
Glad the surgery went well. Here is to a speedy recovery.
Posted 7/5/2008 3:14 PM (GMT 0)
I'm glad to hear that bratcat is doing so well! Thanks for keeping us updated, Bennie.
Posted 7/6/2008 12:28 AM (GMT 0)
I hope that today brought more healing! Glad to hear Bratcat is doing so well :) I hope in time she'll be able to log in and tell us her story.
Posted 7/6/2008 2:31 AM (GMT 0)

Bratcat is still doing well. They removed the abdominal drain that they use to remove excess blood and stuff after surgery. Her ileostomy is outputting something (I guess bile and juices). Today she was allowed to start on clear liquids. She maybe had 2 small glasses of water and about 1/2 a glass of juice. The doctors and nurses say that is OK. She sat in the chair again for several hours and walked a little bit.
So far, she has less pain than I imagined she would have from her incision and ostomy (I guess because of the epidural and pain killers). She is tolerating the foley but they can't take it out until she is off the pain meds. What hurts her the most is they gave her Heperin shots to prevent blood clots. They really hurt her. She has several bruises from IVs, bloodwork, and the shots. She doesn't have the best veins so they have had trouble getting bloodwork daily from her. Tomorrow I will insist on someone with lots of experience. Same will go for her IV (they change it every 3 days).  Also I find I am not as grossed out about the ostomy as I expected to be. We haven't seen it without a bag on but I've watched it output. It is pretty interesting. I watch the nurses empty the bag and can't imagine being able to do that without making a big, big mess.
Hopefully tomorrow we can get Bratcat to walk a little more. They may let her have soft solids. No rush though.

Posted 7/6/2008 4:21 AM (GMT 0)
Sounds like she's making great progress, Bennie. I'm so glad to hear things continue to go well for her.
Posted 7/7/2008 1:28 PM (GMT 0)
Use some Aspercreme on the bruises. It really helps them fade fast and get rid of the pain.

Three cheers for Bratcat and her family! Hip hip hooray! Hip hip hooray! Hip hip hooray!
Posted 7/7/2008 2:32 PM (GMT 0)
That's great Bennie! I'm so happy to hear she is doing well and am excited for her to get back to living her life!
James
Posted 7/7/2008 4:30 PM (GMT 0)
thanks so much for sharing, you are all very brave, especially bratcat, my thoughts are with her and wishing her a speedy recovery!

please keep us updated!
Posted 7/7/2008 4:53 PM (GMT 0)
On the long holiday weekend the more experienced phlebotomists may have taken off. Hoping that Bratcat gets more gentle attention re needle issues-- gads! I, too, have small veins & understand that problem very well. / Old Hat (nearly 30 yrs with left-sided UC ... [etc.])

Posted 7/8/2008 1:23 AM (GMT 0)
Bennie, my son is 17, and I can't imagine what you are going through.  I admire your strength and courage.  The hardest part is being strong for your child.  You have got that down!!  Bratcat is lucky to have you fighting this with her.  Good luck to you both.  Love, UC Mom.
Posted 7/8/2008 7:59 PM (GMT 0)
Bennie,

Glad that your daughter is doing so well after her surgery. I don't know if I could have gone through with it.


When I was in the hospital and when I had colonoscopies my GI would put this numbing cream on the area where they were putting an IV and it would help to ease the prick. I think it's left on for about 30 minutes so the numbing can take effect. It's called EMLA Cream (lidocaine 2.5% and prilocaine 2.5%) then the tube says AstraZeneca. My mom saved it for future reference. :-} I don't know if it helps prevent bruising or not, but you can always ask the doctor about it.

Good Luck
Posted 7/8/2008 9:33 PM (GMT 0)
EMLA Cream is great, they used it all the time when I was a pediatric patient but as soon as I started seeing an "adult" doctor they stopped and now they just jam the needle in. I kind of miss being a kid because at least then people are afraid to hurt you so they're very gentle. Usually needles don't bother me anymore but there's always the occasional sucky nurse who doesn't know how to do it and leaves you with a bruise the size of a baseball.
Posted 7/10/2008 2:49 AM (GMT 0)

We're home! 6 days after surgery. Bratcat is eating a bit. She is only limited to a low residue diet but so far she doesn't have much of an appetite.
The epidural pain management that they used was great for her. She was able to push the button to get more drugs when she felt she needed it. The heperin shots (to prevent blood clots) were the worst! She has black and blue marks on her arms and thighs from them. The nurses finally tried putting an ice pack on immediately after the shots. Still got bruised but less pain (it is not the needle that bothers her, it is the burning of the medicine going in).
Drawing blood daily got easier as soon as they started sending a phlebotomist. Gosh those people are amazing!
She was able to empty her bag a few times this evening with almost no problems. The incision (she did not have laproscopic surgery) hurts a bit but looks good (for an incision). We go to the surgeon next week.
A home health provider is coming either tomorrow or Friday to go over how to care for the ostomy. And in about 2 weeks we will see the hospital ostomy nurse again.

Hoping that each day brings Bratcat another positive step even if it is slowly. I keep having to remind her where she started 6 days ago. I took a few pictures in the hospital (thanks for the idea Mark & Megan) but I am not as diligent as them.

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